A broken Hogwarts

Chapter 95 Nightmare Forest
Christmas in Shafiq's house is not noisy, just quiet and warm, as quiet as the snow on the lawn outside the window.

Everyone received Christmas presents, and even the house elves got a soft and warm quilt, which made them more motivated to work hard all day, busy in the manor all day, even A trace of dust in the corner must be carefully cleaned.

At noon, the family enjoyed a delicious lunch.Mr. Albert and Ms. Adeline drank a bottle of red wine and couldn't help but danced a soothing ballroom dance to the sound of beautiful music. Only Owen felt that he was a bit redundant.

After lunch, the family took a walk on the snow-covered lawn.The garden is full of flowers that only bloom in winter, and there are bursts of fragrance in the cold wind. The lake beside the garden has been thickly frozen and looks like a light blue gem.

Owen was helplessly dragged by his playful father to build a few snowmen, while Ms. Adeline was sitting on a bench in the garden and watching with a smile, like a quietly blooming black rose, making everyone around The flowers all seem to have lost their color.

Until the night came, the family lit several bundles of special fireworks, and the colorful fireworks phoenix and fire dragon performed a grand dance in the sky, and finally turned into golden stars flying all over the sky, reflecting the sky like daytime.

After Christmas, Owen refused to go on vacation with his parents and was going to visit Ms. Elizabeth.

"Are you going to visit a friend by yourself?" Albert raised his eyebrows meaningfully, "Are you going to the little girl's house?"

Owen thought for a while, and said seriously: "No, I'm going to the old girl's house."

"Okay, but you have to know that underage wizards are not allowed to cast magic outside of school." Albert spread his hands, "It's no problem for you to cast magic at home or around us, they can't tell whose it is Charms, but it's never too late for a warning from the Ministry when you don't have grown-up wizards around."

Owen nodded thoughtfully, it seems that he had better get rid of Zongsi's trouble first.

Every underage wizard will have trace silk, which will monitor the magic fluctuations within a certain range around the little wizard. Once the little wizard violates the regulations, he will be warned, and in serious cases, he will even be expelled from the school.Of course, generally speaking, the Ministry of Magic will only enable trace monitoring during the student holidays, and will not use it during normal school days.

When a minor wizard uses magic outside of school during the holidays, Zongsi can not only monitor the location of the little wizard, but also detect what magic he is using, which is very inconvenient.

"Dad, you must have a solution to Zong Si, right?" Owen blinked at his father, and began to act cute shamelessly.

"Of course, Zosi is a good thing. At least it can help us determine your location at any time, lest you be taken away by a scary old witch or a vicious dragon." Albert said with a smile, "Don't expect Your mother and I will help you crack it, and you can try it yourself."

"Ah, the weather is really nice today. Adeline, do you want to take a romantic trip as soon as you say it?" He extended his right hand to Adeline with great grace.

Adeline put her silk-gloved right hand on the palm of his hand with a smile on her face, and after whispering a few words to Owen, the couple stepped into the fireplace and disappeared.

Owen, who was left at home, shook his head amusedly, resting his chin on one hand, thinking about Zongsi's question.

Zongsi has been used for a long time. It is not attached to the little wizard's wand, but connected to them.When the little wizards entered school, the Ministry of Magic would record their names, and Zongsi could monitor them at this time.

As long as Owen couldn't erase his name from the Ministry of Magic, Zongsi would definitely exist.If the traces of a certain little wizard were blocked or eliminated, the Ministry of Magic would be able to get the news immediately and conduct an investigation.

"It can't be erased, but it doesn't mean it can't be removed." Owen thought of the several conversion magics found in the Ravenclaw Chamber of Secrets, and began to try with great interest.

Although his parents had gone out to play, fortunately there were still many house-elves at home, and it was impossible to tell who was using magic.In fact, whether the little wizards in wizarding families practice magic outside of school basically depends on the supervision of their parents, and the monitoring of them by the Ministry of Magic is very weak.

However, it turns out that the methods of the Ministry of Magic cannot be cracked in a short while, even though Owen's current level of spell theory has surpassed most seventh grade students.In the end, Owen rummaged through the family library and his parents' study, and managed to find a manuscript left by an ancestor.

"I just said, for a family with such a long history as the Shafiq family, someone should try to decipher the traces." Owen rubbed his brows helplessly, and his father was really fooling him again.

The existence of Zongsi is indeed more beneficial than harmful to most minor wizards, but obviously not to some wizard families.Because it will indiscriminately monitor all the magic fluctuations around the little wizard during the holidays, and confirm what kind of magic it is.No one likes this kind of surveillance that follows you everywhere, especially many members of pure-blood families know how to use black magic.

Owen knew that his parents would even study some black magic. This was not unusual. Many inheritances of the pure-blood family were researched by generations of ancestors. His grandparents even died in magic experiment accidents.

If Mr. Albert and Ms. Adeline hadn't decided to travel away from home during this time, they might have rushed to help Owen solve the missing monitoring. After all, being detected using black magic is a big deal. problems and are easily exploited by opponents.

According to the method in the handbook, Owen spent half a day making a bottle of magic potion. After dripping his own blood in it, the potion turned a beautiful fiery red.

This kind of potion can transfer the trace thread on him to other creatures, but it can only last for about seven days each time, and it needs to be remade after it expires.But this period of time has been enough for Irving.

He fed this bottle of potion to one of his rabbits, and after seeing the fluffy white rabbit obediently licked off the last bit of potion, Owen felt as if his body became a little lighter, and he didn't know if it was an illusion .

After changing to another place and confirming that Guo Zongsi was indeed gone, he checked the sky, picked up his suitcase and stepped into the fireplace.

After going around several times, Owen came to a small wizarding market in southern Cornwall, and met Ms. Gray by a stone tablet at the exit.

Dressed in a floor-sweeping robe, the ghostly lady's silvery-white figure floats quietly inches above the ground, blending in with the surrounding snowscape.She was looking up at the sun in the sky with her hazy but beautiful face, looking cold and detached, with her usual arrogance.

"Helena, am I not late?" Owen greeted with a smile.

"The time is just right." Ms. Gray nodded her head slightly, raised her hand to stroke her long hair, and floated lightly into the distance.

Owen walked along the mountain road for a long time, and after turning over a high mountain, he finally came to a valley covered by a black forest.There is also a decayed wooden sign outside the valley, with the words "Stop coming" written in unclear handwriting, probably a warning sign set up by Muggles.

The valley was silent, and even the raging cold wind stopped here.Most of the dense trees have black trunks, which contrast with the white snow on the ground, adding a weird feeling here.Some trees have lost all their leaves, exposing their twisted branches, and some trees still have dark green and yellowed leaves, shaking in the windless environment.

"This is Ms. Elizabeth's Nightmare Forest?" Owen exhaled softly, and his breath condensed into white mist in the air.Ms. Gray quietly looked at the forest in front of her, but nodded slightly.

Owen took out the map Ms. Elizabeth gave him, and stepped into the secluded forest in the valley first.

There are thick fallen leaves buried under the snow in the forest, and the creaking sound is especially harsh in this quiet jungle.Owen walked deeper and deeper in the forest along the path marked on the map. There was less and less snow on the ground, and the land took on a dark color.The evergreen trees gradually increased, and the branches and leaves blocked the sunlight, making the forest dim all year round.

Gradually, Owen heard whispers coming from the depths of the jungle, as if many people were whispering to each other, but they could not hear clearly when they listened intently, like meaningless raving.Soon, those whispering voices turned into a sharp and long howling sound, which was whiny and shrill, like a lost girl crying in despair, and there was a faint laughter, which made people feel fearful .

Crying and laughing one after another echoed each other, instantly filling the dead forest. In the depths of the dark forest, there seemed to be ghostly white figures passing by, making the atmosphere here treacherous and gloomy.If a muggle or a timid wizard walked in, they would have been scared and ran away by then.

Like a little girl, Ms. Gray danced around in mid-air lightly, and suddenly passed straight through the trunk of a huge ancient tree. A pale little thing with a human head was frightened, and then screamed. Weeping and drifting away.

"This is the nightmare? It's rare outside." Owen said with a smile, looking down at the map self-consciously, "It's only a few hundred meters away from here."

He put away the map, ignored the threats of the nightmares, and after passing through a natural barrier surrounded by black trees, he saw a two-story log cabin deep in the jungle.

The wooden house in front of me is made of black wood, and it can be seen that it should be repaired from time to time.The whole wooden house is entwined with vines, the evergreen vines are still dark green and look vibrant, this kind of vines will bloom bright red flowers in spring and summer, it would be a beautiful sight.

Owen stepped on the creaking wooden stairs to the door, raised his hand and knocked on the door.He didn't make him wait long, and a beautiful and dull head poked out from the door. After seeing Owen and Ms. Gray, his red eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded to them.

"Ms. Elizabeth, excuse me." Owen said with an elegant smile, "This is Ms. Gray, I told you."

Lady Elizabeth nodded again, then jerked her head back.A moment later, the wooden door opened with a click, and the petite ghost lady floated quietly in the somewhat dim environment, her skirt and hair fluttering without wind, like a white rose fluttering in the wind, only those bright red eyes seemed to be shimmering.

"Welcome." She opened her lips, her words were short and without any ups and downs.

Owen looked at the simple furnishings in the wooden house.There are only some old furniture here, and the original exquisiteness and beauty can be vaguely seen from the blurred patterns, but all the items have been gradually worn out in the long time, and the brilliance of the past cannot be seen.He also noticed some letters that were kept on a table. Those were letters from him, but they were carefully put away by Ms. Elizabeth.

"What a delicate lady." Owen sighed in his heart, and then happily talked with Ms. Elizabeth, exchanging some questions about opera.

Ms. Elizabeth still doesn't talk much. Her indifferent expression and concise words can easily be mistaken for impatience. In fact, she is just not good at talking, and the identity of the cursed spirit makes it difficult for her to make too many expressions.

Ms. Gray also quickly discovered the other party's true character, so she relaxed a lot.The relationship between the two ghost ladies quickly became close, and even Ms. Elizabeth seemed to have a smile on her face.

After chatting for a while, everyone got to the point.

"The problem with your body has become much more serious." Ms. Elizabeth looked at Owen in confusion, as if she didn't understand why he let himself sink deeper and deeper even though he knew something was coveting his body.

Owen stroked his heart with a smile on his face, and there was a thick darkness in the depths of his eyes.He blinked his eyes and said in a relaxed tone: "There are always things that can't be helped."

Lady Elizabeth just glanced at him without showing any curiosity.She floated to what appeared to be a trapdoor leading to the basement, and beckoned to Owen.

Owen pushed open the trap door and saw a long downward staircase inside.He pulled out his wand and said "Luminescence", and then walked in behind the silver figure of Ms. Elizabeth, and finally came to an underground room with books of old notes.

"These notes are all written by me. They are all my research on the soul over the years. You can look through them at will." Ms. Elizabeth said quietly. Facing Ms. Gray's puzzled eyes, she explained woodenly: "As a curse Spirit, I still have a little means of recording."

"Ms. Elizabeth, have you been studying the soul?" Owen picked up a fairly new notebook with burning eyes, eagerly flipped through it, and at the same time quickly copied all the surrounding notes into the wall space.There is no magic applied to these notes and they are very easy to copy.

"Well, in order to break the curse on me and seek relief." Ms. Elizabeth said blankly, her red eyes blinking slightly.

"The curse on me comes from a very powerful black wizard. Because I stopped the plague from spreading by him, and found his trace by accident. He cursed me with his life before he was besieged and died, let me After death, he can only reside in the world as a ghost, a cursed spirit who only knows how to kill." Ms. Elizabeth talked about her past in emotionless language.

"Before I died, I managed to find a way to maintain a little sanity, but what accompanied me was endless struggle and struggle. A clear mind and evil instincts fought and pulled in my body all the time , like walking on the edge of an abyss, unable to relax at all..."

"I used to drift unconsciously in the world for a long time, constantly dominated by instinct, and then pulled back by reason. It was not until a hundred years later that I gradually regained the memory of the past. I asked Merlin for help. He may not be able to save me, but He could destroy me, but he refused to destroy an innocent soul. So I came to this forest, and since then I have lived in seclusion and focused on finding a solution."

Ms. Elizabeth spoke indifferently, looking like a puppet without emotion, but it made people feel sincerely sad.Ms. Gray sighed deeply and took the other's hand.

"You can study the nightmares in the forest, but don't hurt them. None of them have harmed anyone." Ms. Elizabeth just continued.

"Okay, thank you." Owen nodded solemnly, paying more respect to the ghost lady.She is able to restrain and restrain her own instincts for thousands of years, and is unwilling to hurt anyone. This lady is worthy of respect.

In the following time, he briefly looked through Ms. Elizabeth's notes carefully, acting cautiously.Most of these notes are very old. Although they are well preserved, the paper is already very fragile.

A few naughty nightmares slipped in from the outside, circling around Owen without fear of anyone, looking extremely curious about him, making the surrounding air much colder.

These little things have a ghost-like illusory shape, the whole is only the size of a human head, and the color is white and miserable.They have small round heads that look a bit like humans, and a pair of small black eyes that don't blink.There are two thin arms under the head, and there are no legs under the short body, as if it has become a wisp of light smoke.

They will cover the eyes of sleeping people with their invisible palms, making people fall into nightmares and it is difficult to wake up. This is just a prank.Evil nightmares will burrow into people's bodies and live in them, gradually sucking people's life, making people become trance, tired and weak, and finally unable to wake up again, while nightmares will control people's body movements.

These little things will be possessed, which is very valuable to Owen.

He coaxed a pure-looking nightmare with gentle tricks, touched its foggy body with his fingers, and the cold touch seemed to take away even a trace of his body temperature.He collected information with some magic that would not harm them, but it would not be of much use without in-depth research.

Owen could only conduct research based on Ms. Elizabeth's notes, until a somewhat different nightmare crawled into the basement.The eyes of this nightmare are red, like Ms. Elizabeth.

"It is the product of an experiment, from a wizard who once wanted to help me." Ms. Elizabeth reached out and stroked the nightmare, "It just failed in the end. But it is different, it can possess and control two monsters at the same time." biology."

Owen instantly looked at the little thing in front of him, showing interest.

Facing Owen's probing eyes, Ms. Elizabeth shook her head and said, "I can't figure out the reason, it can't divide itself into two, but it can possess one creature and control another creature's body at the same time... "

Owen caught two mice and watched the nightmare pass through the first mouse and into the second mouse under the command of Lady Elizabeth.Soon, the movements of the two mice became synchronized, jumping up and down on the ground in unison, as if performing a strange dance.

Owen watched this scene with deep eyes, and he had a hunch that this little guy would be very helpful to him.

He instantly entered the space facing the wall, looked at the little guy with red eyes outside, and used the function of copying on living creatures for a long time.

[It is detected that the target has magic power, and it needs to consume 1 connection point. 】

Owen chose to copy without hesitation, and wisps of white mist quickly condensed and formed around him, and finally turned into the appearance of the nightmare outside.It opened its red eyes unconsciously, floating up and down lightly in the space facing the wall, not as lively as the one outside, but also not like a stiff puppet.

Owen left the space facing the wall in satisfaction. After two days in the forest, he bid farewell to Ms. Elizabeth and left the Nightmare Forest.

(End of this chapter)